Support device for insulated storage container



March 17, 1970- w. .J. GARTNER SUPPORT DEVICE FOR INSULATED STORAGECONTAINER Filed March 6. 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 jizzxrzar ZVZZ/Q'a/mkrirzer March 17, 1970 3,501,215

SUPPORT DEVICE FOR INSULATED STORAGEVCONTAINER Filed March 6, 1968 4 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Zkvazzfiaw Wam f 622 222422 United States Patent O3,501,215 SUPPORT DEVICE FOR INSULATED STORAGE CONTAINER William J.Gartner, Schaumberg, Ill., assignor to De Soto, Inc., a corporation ofDelaware Filed Mar. 6, 1968, Ser. No. 711,132 Int. Cl. A47b 55/00, 63/00US. Cl. 312--214 21 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE BACKGROUND OF THEINVENTION This invention relates to an improvement in lightweightcontainer assemblies which are capable of protecting their contents fromthe effects of intense, long-lasting heat applied to the exterior of thecontainer. These containers are generally used to protect documents fromfires. The invention is particularly useful in lightweight fireresistant file cabinets.

While many heat-resistant containers are insulated with cement toprovide a long-lasting insulation against extremely high temperaturesgenerated by fire, recently developed heat-resistant containers utilizelightweight insulation. These lightweight containers are obviously moredesirable than the heavy containers which use concrete for insulationsince the lightweight containers are more portable and can be built inlarger sizes without becoming too heavy for practical use. Lightweight,heat-resistant containers generally have an outer frame and at least oneinner container with insulation of low compressive strength disposedbetween the outer container and the inner frame.

In lightweight, heat-resistant container systems it is usually necessaryto utilize supports to affix the inner container to the outer framesince the insulating material, which generally comprises such substancesas fibrous glass or ceramic, is usually too weak to carry the innercontainer, particularly when the container is heavily weighted by itscontents. Thus, for example, Underwriters Laboratories usually test fireresistant file cabinets loaded with 60 pounds of contents per drawer, sothat a four drawer cabinet will require support for 240 pounds ofcontents in addition to the weight of the drawers, themselves.Manifestly, an insulation material of low compressive strength cannotsupport such weight, and additional support is necessary.

One problem that arises in the use of supports between the outer frameand the inner container is that they can serve as conduits for heat tobypass the insulation of the container assembly, thus permittingdestruction of the contents of the container assembly in a short periodof time when the exterior of the container assembly is exposed toextreme temperatures.

The container assembly of this invention overcomes this difficulty, andprovides a means for utilizing the advantages of lightweight containerinsulation, while avoiding the disadvantage previously encountered whenthe inner container of an insulated container assembly is supported bymembers directly attached to the outer frame.

3,501,215 Patented Mar. 17, 1970 DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Inaccordance with this invention, a container assembly is provided havingan outer frame enclosing a major portion of the assembly, at least oneinner container, and heat protection means between the outer frame andthe inner container. Support members are attached to the outer frame andcarry the inner container in a position spaced from the frame. Thesupport members have heatretarding material which resists conduction ofheat along each support member from its end attached to the frame to theinner container. The container assembly of this invention also hasclosure means to substantially seal the inner container within the framein an air-excluding manner, thus providing an insulated containerassembly capable of protecting its contents from high exteriortemperatures.

The container assembly of this invention can be of any design, e.g., atop-opening or side-opening box, or it can be a file cabinet having aseries of drawers, each drawer comprising an inner container which isnormally enclosed by the outer frame.

The support members used herein can be made from elongated, metallicmembers which extend between the frame and the inner container, each ofwhich is in contact with a heat-absorbing member at a location betweenthe frame and the inner container to impede the migration of heat fromthe outer frame along the metallic members to the inner container.

Alternatively, the support members can be made of a ceramic material tobe resistant to the conduction of heat along their entire length.

In another embodiment, the support members can have elongated, metallicmembers held in a parallel, end-toend relationship and spaced from eachother by an insulating member which is made of ceramic or other materialresistant to the conduction of heat. The insulating member is generallypositioned in the support member at a point between the frame and theinner container.

One heat-absorbing member which can be used in conjunction withelongated metallic members to make the support members of this inventionis a porous carrier such as cotton cloth or fibrous glass paper whichcontains liquid water interspersed throughout its pores, and which isenclosed in a water-impermeable casing. This structure serves as a heatsink to absorb heat from the elongated, metallic member, preventing theconduction of heat to the inner container.

Another type of heat-absorbing member is an ablative resin of the typeused on the nose cones of space vehicles to shield the vehicle from thetemperatures encountered during re-entry into the atmosphere. Suchmaterials absorb heat by undergoing an endothermic decompositionreaction. Good results are achieved with organosilicon ablativematerials, for example, those of the type disclosed in United StatesPatent No. 3,317,455.

THE DRAWINGS FIGURE 1 is a perspective view, partially broken away, ofone embodiment of the container assembly of this invention, someinternal structure being shown in dotted lines.

FIGURE 2 is a sectional view of the same container assembly, taken alongline 22 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is a detailed view of a support member this invention, as shownin FIGURE 2.

FIGURES 4 to 9 and FIGURES 4a to 6a all show various embodiments ofelongated members which are used in support members of this invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC EMBODIMENT Referring to FIGURES 1 to 3, theinsulated container assembly shown has an outer frame 10 and three innercontainers 12 which are in generally spaced relation with frame 10. Theinside walls of frame are covered with at least'one layer of insulation14 which serves to protect the inner containers from external heat.

A plurality of support members 16 pass through insulation layer 14 toextend inwardly from vertical supporting strips 18, which strips areattached to frame 10 to strengthen the frame and to prevent the framefrom bending when a heavy load is placed upon support members 16. Asfurther described below, the support members carry inner containers 12.

Each support member 16 has, in this embodiment, an elongated horizontalmember 19 and an elongated bracing member 20. The support members 16carry platform members 22, upon which tracks 24 are laid to permit theinner containers 12 to move along the tracks on rollers 26. This permitsthe inner containers to assume the function of drawers to slide in andout of frame 10.

The inner containers 12 each carry an insulated front wall 28, each ofwhich fits into an aperture in frame 10 to form an airtight insulatingseal in cooperation with the frame when the containers are in a closedposition inside of frame 10.

In accordance with this invention, each of the support members, whichare directly connected to the outer frame 10 by vertical strip 18, hasheat-retarding material for providing resistance to the conduction ofheat along each support member from the portions attached to the frameto the inner containers. Thus, support members 16 can be directlyattached to the frame without encountering a severe loss in thecapability of the container assembly to protect the inner containersfrom external heat.

FIGURES 4 to 9 and FIGURES 4a to 6a illustrate several embodiments ofelongated members 19 and 20 which can be used to form the supportmembers of this invention. It should be noted that there are manyconventional ways for supporting an inner container in spaced relationto an outer frame, and that the load of the inner container may betransmitted to the bottom, sides, or top of the outer frame, or to morethan one of these locations, if desired. Specifically, for example, thesupport members can be vertical posts extending through the platformmembers 22, horizontal bars extending from one side to the other offrame 10, or any other conventional, mechanical configuration to spacethe one or more inner containers of a container assembly from the outerframe. The elongated members described herein and their equivalents canbe used in any of a large variety of support members of this invention.Where a plurality of inner containers are used, they may be individuallysupported from the frame by support members; or one of the frames may beso supported while the other inner containers are carried by the onesupported container.

FIGURE 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of an elongated member whichcan be used in a support member of this invention, while FIGURE 4a is atransverse, sectional view of the same elongated member. A hollowcylindrical metal support rod 32 is filled, at a region intermediate thetwo ends of rod 32, with a heat-absorbing member 34, consisting of aboutfour sheets of fibrous glass paper which are soaked in an aqueoussolution and sealed in a waterimpermeable plastic casing or envelope.Typically, the casing can be made of polyethylene, poly(vinylchloridevinylidene chloride), sold under the trademark Saran, orlaminated films containing a layer of each of the two above-namedmaterials. The aqueous solution held by the fibrous glass paper consistsprimarily of water, but a humectant such as calcium chloride can beadded in order to inhibit the loss of water by evaporation, and agelling agent such as methylcellulose can be added to prevent the waterfrom settling to the bottom of the casing.

The casing containing the fibrous glass paper and the aqueous solutionis folded or rolled, and inserted into metal rod 32. There it serves toabsorb the heat which is transmitted along the metal rod 32 from itspoint of contact with the outer frame. The high specific heat of vaporpermits heat-absorbing member 34 to absorb a substantial amount of heatfrom this source, thus greatly reducing the rate of thermal build-up inthe inner containers when the exterior of the container assembly issubjected to high temperatures.

In an alternative modification of the embodiment of FIGURES 4 and 4a,the plastic casing or envelope may be omitted, and the soaked fibrousglass paper may be encased within metal rod 32, itself, the rod beingsealed at both ends to prevent loss of liquid.

FIGURES 5 and 5a show respectively longitudinal and transverse sectionalviews of another embodiment of an elongated member which can be used insupport members of this invention. In this embodiment, a solid metal rod36 is surrounded by a heat-absorbing member 38 at a region intermediatethe two ends of the rod. Thus, as heat passes along rod 36 from one endthereof which is attached to an outer frame of a container assemblytoward the other end which supports an inner container in the containerassembly, the heat is absorbed by member 38. Member 38 can be wetfibrous glass paper which is sealed in a water-impermeable, plasticenvelope, as disclosed above. Member 38 can be wrapped around rod 36.

FIGURES 6 and 6a show respectively a longitudinal section and atransverse section of another elongated member of this invention. Asolid metal rod 40 serves as thestructural member for supporting theinner container. Rod 40 is surrounded at a region intermediate its endswith an organosilicon ablative material 42 (e.g., Dow Corning 325,presently available from The Dow Corning Corporation, or Stauffer 06035,available from the Stautfer Chemical Company). This ablative coatingabsorbs heat as it chemically decomposes, inhibiting the flow of heatalong rod 40.

FIGURE 7 shows a plan view, partly in section, of another elongatedmember of this invention. Two metal rods 44 and 45 are held in anend-to-end relationship and spaced from each other by an insulatingmember 46 which is generally made of a heat-insulating ceramic material.Thus, heat which is absorbed at a remote end of one of rods 44 and 45 istransmitted only slowly across member 46, inhibiting the fiow of heatbetween rods 44 and 45.

FIGURE 8 shows another elongated member of this invention. A U-shaped,metallic member 48, which serves as a structural member, is filled witha heat-absorbing member 50 which can consist of the composite of wetfibrous glass paper and the water-impermeable envelope described above.

FIGURE 9 discloses an elongated member having a hollow, rectangularmetallic bar 52 which serves as the structural support. Bar 52 is filledwith heat-absorbing member 52, similar to member 50 above.

The elongated members of FIGURES 4, 5, 6, 7 and 9 were tested for theircapability to retard the flow of heat from end-to-end, as compared witha control member of similar configuration but lacking a heat-absorbingor heatinsulating member.

Each elongated member tested was six inches in length. In the case ofthe elongated members shown in FIGURES 4, 5, 6 and 9, the heat-absorbingmaterial was also approximately six inches in length, while for theelongated member shown in FIGURE 7, the ceramic insert 46 separated rods44 and 45 by about inch.

In the test, each elongated member was clamped in a horizontal position,and one end of the member was directly exposed to a gas flame having atemperature of approximately 1900 F. The heating was continued until athermocouple located at the opposite end of the elongated memberindicated that the temperature at that location had reached 350 F. Thetime required for this temperature to be reached was then recorded.

The following is a description of the elongated members tested:

(a) One elongated member was an embodiment of FIGURE 4. A six-inch blacksteel pipe having an outer diameter of /2 inch and inner diameter ofinch was filled with a rolled heat-absorbing pack of four sheets offibrous glass paper, sealed in a polyethylene envelope. Before sealingthe glass paper sheets, they were dipped in a water solution containing16 weight percent of calcium chloride and one weight percent of agelling agent containing a vinylic polymer having sufiicient carboxylicacid groups to render the polymer water-soluble (Carbopol, sold by TheB. F. Goodrich Company). The glass paper was then sprayed with anaqueous solution of ammonia to gel the vinylic polymer, and was thensealed in the envelope. The elongated member used as a control for theabove was an identical steel pipe Without a heat-absorbing member.

(b) An elongated member similar to that shown in FIGURE 5 was tested,using a solid steel rod having an outer diameter of /2 inch andsurrounded by a polyethylene-jacketed heat-absorbing pack similar to thepack disclosed in (a) above. The thickness 0 fthe pack about the steelrod was /4 inch. An identical steel rod without a heatabsorbing memberwas used as the control.

(0) An elongated member similar to that shown in FIGURE 6 was tested,using a steel rod /2 inch in diameter and surrounded with a inch coatingof Dow Corning 325, an ablative material. An identical, uncoated steelrod was used as the control.

(d) The elongated member similar to that shown in FIGURE 7 was tested,using a pair of steel rods of about 273 inches in length and /2 inch indiameter, separated by a ceramic insert which spaced them in anend-to-end relationship about inch apart. The control member in thisinstance was a six-inch steel rod having an outer diameter of /2 inch.

(e) An elongated member similar to that disclosed in FIGURE 9 was madefrom a steel rod having a hollow square cross section which measured /11inch by /1 inch. The walls of the rod were /8 inch thick, and the hollowinterior was filled with the heat-absorbing pack used in a Elongatedmember with heat absorber or Paragraph insulator (min.) Control member(min.)

From the foregoing, it will be observed that numerous variations andmodifications may be effected without departing from the true spirit andscope of the novel concept of the invention.

I claim:

1. A container assembly which comprises: an outer frame enclosing amajor portion of the assembly; at least one inner container; heatprotection means comprising an insulating material of low compressivestrength between said outer frame and said inner container, supportmembers for said inner container, said support members being attached atone end to said frame and passing through said heat protection means tocarry said inner container in a spaced relation with said frame, eachsaid support member comprising a heat-retarding material for providingresistance to the conduction of heat along said support member from saidone end attached to said frame to said inner container; and closuremeans to substantially seal said inner container within said frame in anair-excluding manner.

2. The container assembly of claim 1 having a plurality of innercontainers, each of which comprises a sliding container member; aplatform member to carry said container; each said platform member beingcarried by said support members; said frame defining at least oneaperture to permit each said sliding container member to slide along itsplatform member to project through said aperture in the frame.

3. The container assembly of claim 1 in which each said support membercomprises an elongated, metallic member in contact with a heat-absorbingmember located between said frame and said inner container.

4.. The container assembly of claim 3 in which said heat-absorbingmember comprises a porous carrier containing liquid water interspersedthroughout the pores of said carrier, said carrier being enclosed in awater-impermeable casing.

5. The container assembly of claim 3 is which said heat-absorbing membercomprises an organosilicon ablative material.

6. The container assembly of claim 3 in which said elongated, metallicmember has a cross section defining a hollow polygon.

7. The container assembly of claim 6 in which said elongated, metallicmember is rectilinear in cross section.

8. The container assembly of claim 3 in which said elongated, metallicmember is circular in cross section.

9. The container assembly of claim 3 in which said elongated, metallicmember is a hollow tube sealed at both ends and said heat-absorbingmember comprises a porous carrier containing liquid water interspersedthroughout the pores of said carrier, filling the hollow within saidtube.

10. The container assembly of claim 1 in which said support members aremade of a ceramic material which is resistant to the conduction of heat.

11. The container assembly of claim 1 in which said support memberscomprise elongated, metallic members which are held in parallel,end-to-end relationship and spaced from each other by an insulatingmember between said metallic members, said insulating member being madeof a ceramic material resistant to the conduction of heat.

12. The container assembly of claim 1 in which said outer framecomprises a bottom wall, a top wall and side walls and said supportmembers transmit load from said inner container to at least one of saidside walls.

13. The container assembly of claim 1 in which said outer framecomprises a bottom wall, a top wall and side walls and said supportmembers transmit load from said inner container to said bottom wall.

14. A support member for carrying an inner container spaced within anouter frame of an insulated container assembly and for connecting tosaid outer frame, which member resists the conduction of heat,comprising: an elongated, metallic member; and a heat-absorbing memberin contact with said elongated, metallic member at a locationintermediate the ends thereof, said heat-absorbing member comprising aporous carrier containing liquid water interspersed throughout the poresof said carrier.

15. The support member of claim 14 in which said heat-absorbing memberis enclosed in a water-impermeable casing.

16. The support member of claim 14 in which said elongated, metallicmember has a cross section defining a hollow polygon.

17. The support member of claim 14 in which said elongated, metallicmember is circular in cross section.

18. A support member for carrying an inner container spaced within anouter frame of an insulated container assembly and for connecting tosaid outer frame, which member resists the conduction of heat,comprising: an elongated, metallic member; and a heat-absorbing memberin contact with said elongated, metallic member at a locationintermediate the ends thereof, said heat-absorbing member comprising anorganosilicon ablative material.

19. The support member of claim 18 in which said elongated, metallicmember has a cross section defining a hollow polygon.

20. The support member of claim 18 in which said elongated, metallicmember is circular in cross section.

21. A support member for carrying an inner container spaced within anouter frame of an insulated container assembly and for connecting tosaid outer frame, which member resists the conduction of heat,comprising: elongated, metallic members, said elongated, metallicmembers being held in parallel, end-to-end relationship, and spaced fromeach other by an insulating member made of a ceramic material resistantto the conduction of heat.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS CASMIR A. NUNBERG, PrimaryExaminer US. Cl. X.R.

